The European Commission spent £315,000 to redesign its logo by simply inserting lines representing the outline of the Brussels executive's HQ around the EU flag.

The cost of hiring a graphic designer to add the swerving, modernist outline of the Commission's Berlaymont building, which is not widely known outside Brussels, was £110,000.

Then, the bill for replacing the various logos used by the Commission added another £215,000 to the cost of a redesign that was so similar to the old design that it went virtually unnoticed when it was changed six weeks ago.

Officials told The Daily Telegraph that the expenditure was a saving because it would replace 400 departmental logos within the commission, a "confused situation" that had cost £3.7 million over recent years.

"We have now combined the flag with the unique features of the Berlaymont and the European flag remains an important element in the Commission's new visual identity. That is why the cost for developing the visual identity is really not high," said a spokesman.

Richard Ashworth, leader of Britain's Conservative MEPs, said: "While member states including the UK are pushing ahead with painful austerity measures to sort out Europe's economic mess, the commission is content to spend six-figure sums on window-dressing. Of all the urgent problems facing the EU just now, this hardly top of the list."